Learn how to save a life at the Heart Fair

1/17/2013

​Spend just 10 minutes at Sacred Heart Medical Center's 12th annual Heart Fair on Saturday, Feb. 9 at Valley River Center, and you can leave knowing how to save a life. Local Emergency Medical Services first-responders will give free trainings from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the new “Hands-Only CPR,” which the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends as the best out-of-hospital method to save the life of someone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest.

The AHA’s nationwide Hands-Only CPR Campaign aims to educate as many people as possible about the benefits of delivering chest compressions quickly when someone goes into cardiac arrest.

Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States, with nearly 400,000 out-of-hospital events occurring each year. The hands-only approach—in which you place one hand above the other on the center of the victim’s chest and deliver compressions 100 times or more per minute—can more than triple the chance of survival.

Oregon Heart & Vascular Institute at Sacred Heart is partnering with the AHA and local Emergency Medical Services first responders to save more lives by getting the word out and offering this free training at the Heart Fair. Local EMS First responders are teaching the community through a program called ACT: C3, which stands for Check, Call 911 and Compress, and they’ve changed their protocols to compression-only CPR when treating cardiac arrest victims.

The Heart Fair, which coincides with American Heart Month in February, will also feature displays and information on cardiovascular health and treatment technology; free blood pressure, heart rate and body mass measurements; tours of an ambulance; and giveaways and prize drawings. And in addition to receiving the training, you’ll be able to sign up for a Family and Friends CPR Anytime take-home kit you can use to train with your family, friends or coworkers.

For more information about local efforts to teach Hands-Only CPR, click here. For information on heart disease and the services offered at OHVI, click here.